Test Act
in English history, an act passed in 1563 by which an oath of allegiance to Queen Elizabeth, and of abjuration of the temporal authority of the Pope, was exacted of all holders of office, lay or spiritual, within the realm, except peers, Also, an act passed in 1678, by which it was enacted that all persons holding any important office, civil or military, under the crown or receiving money therefrom, should take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, subscribe a declaration against transubstantiation, and receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper according to the usage of the Established Church. It was repealed in 1828.